Moment of Time
by Makkoska
Summary: Kars is not someone who regrets his choices, even if he doesn't have a rational explanation behind them. And as thousands of years pass by, keeping Wamuu alive proves to be one of his best decision.
**Summary:** Kars is not someone who regrets his choices, even if he doesn't have a rational explanation behind them. And as thousands of years pass by, keeping Wamuu alive proves to be one of his best decision.

*/*/*

 **Moment of Time**

*/*/*

It's over well before dawn. His race, the damned fools who could have had anything, yet wanted nothing, have perished one by one. The echoes of their screams have died down and their bodies mouldered.

Kars treads on their remnants, the dust that covers the floor of their old encampment, the place he's called home till now. The white grain that remained of his tribe doesn't seem more special than the dirt that seeps in from the outside. In fact it's impossible to tell them apart.

"It is finished," Esidisi says from behind him.

Kars just nods. It would be strange to say thank you right now. He doesn't feel remorse or sorrow, only a slight melancholia, but he's not in the mood for a talk. His companion doesn't force it.

The two of them proved to be stronger than their entire race. Maybe the others were unprepared for his resistance, they thought he will quietly accept the death sentence they bestowed upon him. They could hardly believe Kars was going against their collective decision in his determination to conquer the sun, and were even less prepared for him having an ally.

But all that hardly justified their weakness. It was for the best that they all perished, men and women, young and those who roamed this earth for even longer than him.

"Let's move from here," he tells Esidisi and the other hums in agreement. There are very few things they want to take with themselves. The stone masks he's been experimenting with, the red gems, the clothes and jewels they are wearing. They've almost left the place when a soft noise from one of the offside rooms stops them.

"Looks like you were wrong, Esidisi," Kars chides. "We are not _quite_ finished."

"I've forgotten about them!" the taller man smacks his forehead, unnecessarily overdoing the gesture, but Kars has known him for so long, he doesn't even quirk an eyebrow at it. "But we might as well just leave them here. They'll cease to exist on their own soon enough."

It would be hard to tell what draws Kars into the back of the encampment. Pity? Mercy? He's free of such weaknesses. It's probably just the urge to do everything impeccably, to finish a job started.

The two children survived the massacre as they are too young to walk, talk or otherwise draw attention to themselves. Although the blond one seems almost big enough to do more than lie on its back and await its doom. Maybe it is simply just larger - the male who fathered it used to be the tallest of their kind, towering above everyone else.

Kars extends his blade from his forearm, ready to end the young creature's short existence. The baby opens its eyes to look at him with a curious, clear blue glaze. Its glance is surprisingly sensible, serious even, and Kars is stuck by the absurd thought that it knows the fate awaiting it, but is ready to accept it quietly from him.

He hesitates, without understanding why he's doing so. He never cared about children, never felt the slightest urge to become a parent. Over his already long life, he's grown uncaring about his own race.

But it would be silly not to listen to his instinct. If he's mistaken, and the youngsters will turn out to be useless to keep alive, he can kill them anytime.

He withdraws his blade to pick the blond boy up, and he clutches his long locks in his chubby hands with a surprisingly strong grip. He tips his head back to keep observing Kars so seriously.

"Uhm," Esidisi says tentatively "what are you…"

"Take the other one," Kars commands. "Let's see if they can grow up to be more useful than their parents were."

His companion shoots a curious glance at him, but obeys. The smaller, red haired boy gives a small whine when he picks him up, but mostly both children are silent as they leave the ancient encampment for once and for all, and the night closes around them.

*/*/*

"Master Kars, can I sit with you?"

He nods at the boy who sits down next to him. He is clumsy, his body is still small, with only slight traces of muscles, but his solemnity never fails to please Kars. Though long-long years have to pass still for the boys to become useful to him, he can already see that keeping the children alive wasn't just a whim as Esidisi suggested. He is especially fond of Wamuu, and not just the way he would be fond of a useful tool. He seems to grow night by night, getting taller and smarter.

He is always quiet, just as he was on that night he spared his life. Right now, he seems to be satisfied just with sitting next to him, gazing up at the bright stars.

"I thought you were playing with your brother," he remarks.

"Santana fall asleep, Master Kars, and Master Esidisi hasn't come home yet, so I thought I'll come to you if I don't bother you…"

He trails off uncertainly, blinking up at him. Both the boys are respectful, fearful even around him, which is how it should be. Kars never made it a secret that the only reason they stayed alive was due to his mercy, and that he can kill them off anytime if they prove to be not worth the bother that is raising them. Probably because of this, Santana tends to stay around Esidisi, or his brother by raising. Wamuu, on the other hand, grabs every opportunity to be in his presence. His bravery pleases Kars, just as the adoration in his blue eyes does.

"It's no bother," Kars reassures him, reaching out to pat his shoulder with the briefest of touch and Wamuu smiles up at him gratefully.

"What are you looking for on the sky, Master Kars?" the boy asks him after a while. It's a childish question, but he contemplates it nevertheless. There is a reason, after all, why he looks up so often to the night sky.

"One should always aim for perfection, Wamuu. We are the strongest creatures roaming the earth, yet we are still imperfect, still vulnerable. If we stop in our advance and accept our weakness, rather than doing our best to overcome it, we will stagnate in our current state - then we go down on the road of decline. So I'm looking for what I can't witness right now, but I know I'll be able to, one day."

"The Sun," the child breathes.

"The Sun, yes," he smiles at him. He told them about their quest, and the sooner Wamuu and Santana embraces his ultimate goal to conquer the deadly light, the better. "Once we will able to walk in its rays, we will be truly invincible. I can't be satisfied with anything less than ruling over this world, and anyone who stands in my way, must perish."

"Master Kars, I'm… I'll become your strongest ally. If I can't, I'm not worth to live."

"Yes, Wamuu. I know you will," he puts his hand on his shoulder, and the boy leans against his side. Such a small child with such a serious vow. Kars has no doubt that he'll keep his word.

*/*/*

"What's wrong, Wamuu?"

"Nothing, Master Kars," he doesn't know how to lie. Kars puts down the stone mask he's been fiddling with again to look at him.

"You are back early."

"I wasn't really hungry."

That sounds even less convincing. Both children has grown so much, especially Wamuu. He's now almost at Kars' height, all gangly limbs and lean muscles. Very distinctly, the dark haired man remembers being that young, and the constant hunger that accompanied him. The sensual pleasure that consuming the life-force of humans caused him.

He is sure that it's no different for the boy. So it doesn't makes sense why he's back at their shelter while Santana is still out hunting with Esidisi.

He thinks of telling him that he doesn't take kindly being lied to, but in the end lets it go. If he chooses to hunger for whatever reason, it's his choice.

He questions Esidisi when he's back though. The youngsters are fast asleep, but old creatures like them don't need too much sleep. The Sun outside is surely high up on the sky, but they are sheltered safely from its deadly rays. It's only a matter of time before he no longer needs to hide. He has no need to be impatient, having all the time of the world.

"Wamuu, ehh?" Esidisi shrugs, grinning. "That boy is strange sometimes, I wonder where he gets it from, certainly not from me or you."

"Strange?" Kars questions, wondering what his long standing friend means by that. If he knows anyone who's strange, it's Esidisi, though it never really bothered him.

"I think he was angry with me for attacking _his humans._ Though of course he'd never say so, but I could see it in his eyes. Too open, that boy is."

" _His humans?"_ Kars repeats, incredulous.

"That group he was watching. A male, a female and their offsprings. He was watching them grow up and do all kinds of stuff."

Kars is more than unhappy with that. Unkindly as he thinks of his almost extinct race, they are far superior to humans, who are nothing but their preys. There can't be anything worth for in them that should make Wamuu want to spare them.

Without ever talking about it, they have a different role around the children with Esidisi. His friend takes them to hunt and teaches them to fight. Kars teaches them what they should know about the world, of unleashing their full powers, of his aim that they are obliged to follow. But if Wamuu - his favourite of the two - starts to have some unsavoury thoughts about humans, he might need to take a more active role in shaping him. What a disappointment…

"Don't worry about it," Esidisi waves his hand, his tone just a bit wary. He knows Kars well enough to recognise and be cautious about his dissatisfaction. "It was just normal curiosity from the boy. It's now taken care of."

"He needs to remember his place."

"Oh, he does. He does," he reassures him with a cruel little laugh and for the time being, Kars believes him.

*/*/*

When the boys practice their fighting skills, it's always Wamuu who wins. Santana has dirty tricks, but he can't quite fool Wamuu. He's a tight bundle of concentration, meeting every sly move of the red haired youth. He's quite a genius of battling, taking his vow very seriously to be Kars strongest ally. That pleases the old creature immensely.

He finds almost everything about Wamuu pleasing. His strength, his loyalty, his admiration of Kars, his dedication to help him in any way he can to obtain his ultimate goal and conquer the Sun.

It's only this strange sense of honour he developed that annoys him. He could beat it out of him, or could order him to act against it - but Kars is stuck by the notion that it's so deeply part of the young blond that changing it would mean changing _him_. And Kars is too fond of Wamuu for that.

So he tolerates his reasoning about honourable fights and objections of killing children of humans. It's such a silly thing, and maybe dangerous too, when it is about the Ripple users, trying to come against them. He tolerates it as he's sure that when it matters, Wamuu will obey him. He knows he'd die for him, just as Esidisi or Santana would. He's made sure that they are all devoted to him, and to Kars silent satisfaction, they never disappoint.

*/*/*

On their long quest of finding the Perfect Red Stone, they often part ways. Time has little meaning for them, a night or a thousand of them being separated, it doesn't make much difference. Kars always liked to be alone, though he finds that over the long years, it became a comfortable thing to be amongst his companions. Probably that's why he seeks out Wamuu, the only one nearby, as Esidisi and Santana are exploring the continent over the ocean. Because of how weary they need to be of the Sun, such a journey takes long, long enough for even Kars to notice.

He finds the younger man up on a high tree, sitting on a thick branch with his back against the trunk. He has no doubt that the youngster was watching the night-life of a nearby human village again.

"Birth, death and coupling," Esidisi told Kars dryly once, when he asked him, torn between anger and annoyance, why Wamuu just doesn't give up his interest on the lowly humans, "and of course the chance to find a worthy warrior he can combat against. That's what he's looking for. The first three as he can't see that within our little family, obviously. And you know very well, how is he like about fighting. About an _honourable fight."_

Wamuu of course notices when the old creature gets close, so by the time Kars reaches him, he's already on the ground, looking alert and eager to hear what he can do for his master, as always. The dark haired man has half the mind to punish him, or forbid him for once and for all to look for, whatever he's looking for in humans.

It's because of the open, trusting look in the other's blue eyes why he doesn't do either. He could ask anything from him, Wamuu will deny him nothing.

He's very young still, but no longer a boy by any means. He's grown tall and muscled, a warrior genius. Maybe his openness comes with his tender age and it's not a fault to be rectified, as it will simply fade away as he matures.

 _Birth, death and coupling._ While Santana doesn't seem to be interested too much in such things, it's probably no wonder that Wamuu is. They are quite different, and the blond is more curious of life and matters of the flesh than the redhead is.

Maybe it's not easy to be so young and have only so few of your race about. Kars can hardly recall how he was so long ago and isn't quite sure whether he should do anything to satisfy Wamuu's curiosity.

*/*/*

Such a long time ago that it's hard to recall, Kars and Esidisi were lovers. Kars has never cared for the women of his race, but when he was still young, and more run by the urges of his body, his only trusted friend was an obvious choice to take as a partner, the only choice he could be happy with. They stopped to have that aspect of their relationship centuries before the night of the massacre, yet it strengthened their bond to the point when Esidisi choose him over everyone else.

While Kars simply lost interest in the act of sex, he knows that his friend hasn't. After their tribe perished, he's continued to take humans turned into vampires of both genders from time to time.

"Physical activity piques my appetite," he joked about it, as they always ended up as his meals after he found his satisfaction in them. Kars never tried to hide that he finds that distasteful, but his friend always had his quirks, and just laughed seeing his frown.

Kars never asked, just assumed that he gave his guidance to the youngsters about sex. Growing up was a long process for their kind, accompanied, much as with most race of Nature, by hunger and lust. But with Esidisi away, Wamuu's education is his responsibility.

Wamuu's eyes are fixed firmly on the ground, his cheeks red, as Kars explains the different possibilities he has if he needs to relieve his sexual longings. His pose shows clearly that despite his height and bulk he is still very young.

"Do you have any questions?" he asks at long last, repressing a sigh, feeling he hasn't done a very good job.

"No, Master Kars."

"It's like fighting…" he makes a vague gesture with his hand. "You'll get the hang of it with practice."

*/*/*

At times, he makes an army. He uses the stone masks, he turns humans into vampires. They are stronger like that, but still weak, nothing compared to them. Frustratingly enough, they lose their one strength Kars would be really interested in - their resilience to the Sun. He never thinks of them more than semi-useful tools. If they move, he simply discards them, consumes their life force. He knows he can recreate them any time.

They can come useful, though a hundred of them can't compare to Wamuu in a fight. That's not simply due to the physical differences, or the way the wind bends to Wamuu's will. It's the passion, the genius for battle the blond youth was apparently born with.

Kars indulges him quite a lot, but he can't bring himself to be bothered by that. The boy is too pleasing, to trustworthy for him to do otherwise. He is happy for any kind gesture, any praise coming from Kars, and he founds he is not against to give it to him at all.

Growing too fond of him is easy with Esidisi and Santana away. So when Wamuu turns to him with a request he'd otherwise discard, he doesn't quite say no to him.

"Take you as a partner?" he just repeats lazily. He is sitting on his chair, while the boy is crouched back on his heels, knees just lightly touching the stone floor.

"Master Kars, I know it's out of line for me…"

"Why do you wish for this, Wamuu?"

He looks up at him with too-honest blue eyes, determined, devoted, longing. It's a look that tells a lot - Kars was just never able to teach him to disguise his feelings - but he doesn't feel like scolding him for it just now.

"I - I dedicated myself to you, Master Kars. I don't wish for anyone else… I find my pleasure in fighting, but I still yearn for more. You have spared me, brought me up, taught me. I owe you my whole life, and I promised I'll be the most useful to you. I just wish to be as close to you as I can. I know this is not for me to ask, but if you wouldn't mind…"

He runs out of words, but he doesn't turn his gaze away. Pleased despite himself, Kars mouth quirks up into a smile. How strange it is, he muses. He stopped feeling anything tender towards anyone living eons ago. The only creature he didn't dismiss as a hindrance, the sole person he would have felt bad losing, was Esidisi. But he realizes now that Wamuu got under his skin and he doesn't even mind it. He sees no harm in granting his wish and let him even closer.

"Come then," he says softly, standing up and heading towards his sleeping chamber. It takes the blond a moment or two to understand what is happening and follow him.

Their clothing never covered much, yet his eyes all but devour Kars when he undresses. Smirking, he lets his hair down as well and commands Wamuu to bare himself too. He smiles, seeing the boy is already hard. He can't quite remember being that young and passionate. Maybe he never was.

He lies back on his bed of furs, spreading his legs.

"You may take me."

Yet Wamuu delays, kissing and caressing his body with reverence, igniting a long forgotten spark of desire in Kars. He grabs his light hair, pulls on it, his fingers sinking into hard muscles. But of course thousands of years learning how to have perfect command on his body can't be broken so easily. Though his member is hard, Wamuu ignores the call of lust in favour of worshipping his master, and in the end it's Kars who growls lowly, ordering him to penetrate him.

He is sure the boys knows and cherishes the trust he shows. This is a vulnerable position, his body, his neck, his horns bared. Though he's tenth of his age, Wamuu is strong, physically stronger than him. He'd never think of harming him though, and because of this, Kars has no need for tenderness.

Soon enough his young warrior is pounding into him, his strong grip firm on his thighs, his blue gaze never leaving Kars' face.

Their race has no need to hurry. Even if Wamuu had his pleasure with humans before, he still knows by instinct that their coupling with Kars has to be different. Pleasure builds up slowly in someone so old like him, but his protégé has the tenacity and love to arouse it in him. He wasn't expecting it, but welcomes the long-forgotten rush of lust.

Their movements slow down, then pick up tempo again and again. Kars feels full - Wamuu is larger than anyone he's known - but he feels no discomfort. He finds he doesn't want to hold back his small moans, and the blond drinks them up from his lips. He must be on the edge but he keeps up until Kars reaches his peak, his seed splattering their chests, before he lets it go as well, trembling, groaning as he finds his release inside his master's body.

*/*/*

Once Esidisi is finally back, he is alone. Their search for the perfect Red Stone wasn't successful, so he left Santana behind to watch. Kars also considers that they should sleep a couple of millennia as well, to wait for a better time to finally find his so desired gem.

His old friend of course notices the change in their relationship. Not from the way Kars behaves of course, but Wamuu is open, and Esidisi is too smart for his own good. He grins slyly at him when it's just the two of them.

"I have to say I'm almost hurt. You have turned me down so long ago, but of course you've always indulged your precious Wamuu."

"Don't be ridiculous," Kars waves off his teasing. "It's not something worth talking about."

"Well, a boy need his pastimes. He was always too focused on fighting."

"We all can have our fun, as long as it doesn't deter us from our ultimate goal."

"He'll bring you down the Sun himself, if he can."

Kars just smiles in satisfaction. That's how it should be.

*/*/*

FIN


End file.
